I Appreciate That We Have These Works in Our Own Daily Lives

In many cases, as series last a long time, they tend to lose their freshness or their illustrations becomerougher. However, JOJOLION is depicted ever more carefully and its style becomes newer despite the length of the series. The brilliant aspect of this work is that, while remaining a big hit series, it remains a unique and front-line artwork. I attended the screening meeting with the intention of nominating it from the beginning. With its originality, SHOUWA GENROKU RAKUGO SHINJU completely turned around my thoughts that if one depicts a world of traditional Japanese art, it must always seem old-fashioned. Soredemo Machi wa Mawat teiru (The Town Keeps Moving) is basically a collection of standalone episodes, brilliant in the way it holds readers' attention from the first volume to the very latest. The highlight of CHIISAKOBEE is the vivid depictions of mouth-watering foods which Ritsu cooks. Hikidashi ni Terrarium (TERRARIUM IN DRAWER) is superb in its imagination packed into many different short stories. Le Goût du Chlore is printed in full color, which is uncommon for Japanese manga. Its experimental use of colors is new and unique. Alice to Zouroku is a SF fantasy combined with cute illustrations. Readers are impressed with Zouroku's integrity and excited about the daily discoveries of Sana. In the pale illustrations of Natsuyasumi no Machi (A Town during Summer Vacation) you can sense the bright summer sunshine. With the Special Achievement Award, NAKAMURA Kimihiko, the representative of COMITIA (original independent comic exhibition), may seem too young to be awarded the prize. However, given the amount COMITIA has contributed to the manga scene's creativity, I think presenting the award to him is actually overdue. I personally feel that MIZUSHIRO Setona and ONE could have won the Excellence Award and the New Face Award respectively. However, in both their cases, due to their popularity their votes were split between multiple works nominated for different awards. I have the overall impression that many of this year's works deliberately portray a collection of everyday details. I would like to conclude this year's awards by stating how much I appreciate that we have these works in our own daily lives.